Dzagoev and Shirokov give Russia 2-0 halftime lead

Goals by Alan Dzagoev and Roman Shirokov gave Russia a 2-0 halftime lead over the Czech Republic in Group A at the European Championship on Friday.

After weathering a tough opening 10 minutes, Russia settled into its fluid passing game and tore apart the Czech defense.

Dzagoev was on hand to smash home the loose ball after Aleksandr Kerzhakov's header hit the post in the 15th minute.

The CSKA Moscow midfielder should have scored again just minutes later but blasted his shot wide after Kerzhakov found him in space on the right.

Shirokov made no such mistake in the 24th minute when he ran onto a diagonal pass from the left by Andrei Arshavin and cleverly lifted the ball over Petr Cech's despairing dive for his seventh intentional goal.